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Quick warning, this may be my first wall of text for a while and it’s very much based on my own personal journey…

I got very down about Tier 4 when I was new to it, my class kind of sucked at soloing from 31-33 (more than normal), and that was a big shock to the system. Plus, I don’t want to have to choose a levelling specline or have to choose gear for various purposes – I’m stubborn like that. And open RvR was quiet, Serpent’s Passage hurts my eyes after the 3rd consecutive run, etc etc. And I read around the place that others were having similar ‘fun’ problems. And then I had an enforced 5-day break. And I thought about it quite a lot, especially when chatting to my sisters and to a WoW gamer I spent some time with.

I got out of my funk. I love the game, I really do. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish open RvR was a bit more perky – but honestly, on our server there is open action in Tier 4 every day. It may not be at the perfect time for me, and some of it might mean taking empty keeps and waiting for defence and then scooting around to try and nudge control in various zones while many want a big fight… but it’s there. And that comforts me.

Then, at 33, my Rune Priest (not specced for Rune of Burning!) got better at soloing. Not great, but good enough for a primary healer. Which satisfies me there. In fact, my biggest concern is finding people to group up with to quest and do PQs (PQs are a bit pointless for influence rewards, but I see them as socialising with some free xp attached!). Even that is changing, I’m changing, I’m asking for help more. And trying to make myself more sociable and willing to help also. It’s a process, neither slow nor fast, but one that depends on mood.

So what really struck me about Warhammer Online while I was away? It’s a very different game to those I’m used to playing (DAoC, WoW, LotRO). And I asked myself the following:

How did I play my last MMO? (ie. level fast, solo/grouped, etc)

How many hours per day did I grind traits/influence/reputation/gear?

How many hours did I raid per week?

How many hours did I PvP?

WAR is a totally different kettle of fish for me, and for everyone. There’s a certain levelling ‘grind’ but I say it in inverted commas, cos it’s nothing like the grind I had in other games (I played WoW before they upped the lower level xp, I left before Burning Crusade). I have been known to play 12h straight in Dark Age of Camelot, whether in Caer Sidi or tree groups! All day is and has been pretty common for LotRO. And yet, when I try it in WAR I get a bit edgy and miserable.

Why, then? Well, the best I can do at describing it is that I’m finding WAR a completely different kettle of fish as an MMO. It’s the kind I like to dip in and out of, which is something I’ve never done before. And one of the reasons I’ve never had two MMOs at the same time before now. To me, MMO has always been a bit like a part-time job, occupying all hours to get all the things I want and need for my character while grouping up with friends to complete some fairly hefty challenges, or to just hang out and have some fun. Now we have WAR, where in a few hours I can take two or three keeps, or jump into scenarios while questing. For me, anyway, it’s not a game I want to spend 12h straight – and that’s the big difference.

Since coming back, and recognising this, I’ve been a much happier bunny. I log off when I’m tired or when I want to go watch TV or hang out with the cats or my husband. I play less, but I enjoy it more. I’ve reached rank 35 and renown rank 32 (well, I’m 95% there, and will be by the time this is published). I have titles for taking keeps and for restoring keeps. I am beginning to help people with their quests more and have recently seen Bastion Stair for the first time. All of this has been more fun than a couple of weeks ago, when I hit the Tier 4 doldrums.

I think the game still needs tweaks at the high levels, the influence rewards for PQs are lousy after ch16 and this has led to a desertion – one that makes questing where there are PQs quite tricky. Going back to help lower level characters has giving me a sense that my character is powerful and also, it’s more relaxing than trying to solo stuff. When these guys catch me up, we’ll all group and do ch18+ together. So I’m kind of fixing it myself, and the levelling curve is flattening all-round.

No solution to Serpent’s Passage Syndrome yet but I have faith Mythic will work something out. They’ve been very responsive and let’s face it, they know they have a problem with Tier 4 at the moment, you can’t fail to notice the threads and blog posts about it. But it’s not all down to the game company, we do have our own responsibility to do what’s fun for us.

For me, it’s to dip in and out of PvE, RvR, scenarios and dungeons and not to try and play WAR as if it’s LotRO/DAoC/WoW.

[And, as Syp said in a comment recently ‘great minds think alike’ – it would be remiss of me to leave out a link to Stylish Corpse whose words on the same topic I greatly enjoyed and who I totally agree with!]

About scenario queuing, if you haven’t read it already all over the WAR blogs, and some of my guildmates hadn’t last night. You can now queue for all scenarios across a tier from anywhere in that tier. Simply open the queuing button and use arrows at the top to select which scenarios to queue for. Or all of them. (NB: There’s also an addon out there that will auto-queue you for all available scenarios, but be warned I think it only queues you solo and also flags you for RvR)

We used it last night to select only our favourite ones from the Tier 3 melange, and that was fairly successful. I suppose because Order are in a minority (do we have a server yet where Order outnumbers Destruction?) we get to be a bit picky with our scenarios. I think I’m mad cos I actually like some of the ones that seem to favour Destruction, but last night we stuck with a couple and I finally got to play the Cemetery. It’s not bad at all, but at the end of the evening, scenario healing definitely gets harder.

What else did we do? Ah yes, discovered that open field RvR might not be the best thing to do in-between queuing for scenarios. And had a starter roleplay event for the guild in Altdorf, which started at Sigmar’s Hammer (yay, Burlok’s Altdorf got to rank 2 at the weekend) and moved to the Blowhole so we could start a real live barroom brawl (a few times, as it happens).

Was a nice mix of an evening, the roleplay reminded me I enjoy being in-character even though I don’t do accents and assume everyone can inject Northernness to my phrasing (kind of dumb, since I lived in Yorkshire for 5 years so could manage the dialect just fine if I stopped to think about it), but I prefer to get my message across. So with the promise of more roleplay, we went our separate ways. Good times.

And because I mentioned Sigmar’s Hammer and this started with a tip, I’ll end with a tip. Go to Sigmar’s Hammer, head to Quartermaster and buy a scroll of recall (whatever it’s called). Go upstairs and check the flightmaster – you can fly to anywhere from Sigmar’s and you can now port to Sigmar’s from anywhere for 30 brass. Just remember the scroll disappears when used and doesn’t stack (though you can buy more than one) so buy one everytime you port there.